Member Spotlight: Hope Hayes, MEd, RDN, LDN

This week we are getting to know more about EDRDpro member Hope Hayes, who is based in New Hampshire. Hope is a nutrition therapist and dietitian, dedicated to helping her clients find their way to recovery from eating disorders. Here, we have the pleasure of learning about and from Hope. Find out who are some of her formative influencers and resources she loves, including the book, Breathe Mama, Breathe by Shonda Moralis. You can also follow along with her on social media: @hopedhayes on instagram, and Nourishing NH, LLC on Facebook. Enjoy this interview with Hope and find out more at www.NNHLLC.Com.

If you didn’t do what you do professionally, what other job or field would you have pursued, and why? I would love to be a chef. Working with food and being in the kitchen just feels so comforting at this point in my life; maybe someday I’ll take real lessons. Another direction I might have gone would be to write children’s books. Since becoming a mom, I’ve been compiling silly things my son has said over the past few years and I would love to make it into a story!

Just for fun, tell us something most people don’t know about you! Only those closest to me know this (because its slightly embarrassing) but I love to sing. I am pretty terrible, and I have a habit of making up the words as I go. But it just feels so good!

Where do you work? I am a non-diet RD and eating disorder specialist and work through a HAES lens. My private practice is in 2 locations, North Conway and Concord, NH. Offering services in two locations felt important as NH is extremely limited in ED resources. The people I work with come to me to heal their relationship with food and body; some have diagnosed EDs and some do not. I look at how their life and values are being disrupted due to the way they eat and relate to their body. I trust and honor their lived experience.

What do you enjoy most about what you do? I have immense amounts of gratitude for my clients for trusting me and my office to be a safe space and/or brave space (shout out to the Body Image Workshop) for them to share different parts of them and their journey with me. Its an honor to work alongside them as they focus on healing. I enjoy all aspects of the work I do, but more than that, I am full of gratitude to be able to do this.

Why eating disorders treatment? What drives you? The relationship between food, body, and body image fascinates me. Why humans do the things they do or think the way they think around food/body is complex and can feel overwhelming. Many people don’t know they can live a life free from their ED/dieting and feel good in their body and about their body. I am continuously driven in this work as I see clients find their own liberation. It is powerful to observe them as they practice more self-compassion and less self judgement and live a life that aligns more with what is important to them.

Who are your favorite social media influencers in the non-diet, recovery, body liberation space?

Christy Harrison and her amazing podcast.

Maria Paredes and her social justice views.

Marci RD and her work on food addiction and Body Image Workshop (And Fiona Sutherland!) has been incredibly helpful in my personal and professional growth.

So hard to just pick a few!

What is/are your favorite book/s or resource that have made a difference in the way you work?

Intuitive Eating by far one of my best used resources (2019 goal is to become an IE certified counselor)

Embody by Connie Sobczak

Breathe Mama, Breathe by Shonda Moralis (written for parents but I love the many mindful tips offered)

What is one non-diet, Intuitive Eating, or Health at Every Size® pearl of wisdom you’d like to share?

I tell my clients often, “you cannot do this work wrong”, as so many of them come from a place where mastery of dieting or ED behaviors is of the utmost importance. Healing brings about some uncertainty and many of them want/need a lot of clarity. I work to support them in a way that fosters more self-trust by letting them know when they have an intent to heal, nothing they are going to do will be wrong. There will be times when they struggle and times when they feel better – their healing power comes from how they respond to themselves and what they do with information their body provides, rather than judge it right or wrong. It’s a lot of unlearning, building trust within themselves, and practicing new found compassion.